Back at Xunzhen Temple, Huang Huai had often cleaned the incense ash out of the burners. Most of it was used to fertilize fields, though occasionally some pilgrims and worshippers would ask Xunzhen Temple for a little to use as a folk remedy.
In a world where deities revealed their divine power, incense ash—so closely tied to Incense and Fire Prayer Power—could hardly be ordinary. It was only natural that common folk traded it to Great River Sect for incense, candles, and silver.
Thinking of the great quantities of incense ash that Xunzhen Temple had to clear out almost every day, then seeing Great River Sect pay real gold and silver to collect it, Huang Huai suddenly felt that he and Chen Wei had been throwing away bright, shining silver every day. His heart ached!
"Huh, Big Brother Huang, it's you!"
A voice suddenly rang out beside Huang Huai. He turned around and saw a boy looking at him with excitement.
The moment he saw the boy, Huang Huai remembered how the boy had once given him a pearl. Who else could it be but Ji Yang?
He instinctively looked behind Ji Yang. Apart from a middle-aged man serving as his attendant, there was no one else.
Smiling faintly, Huang Huai said to Ji Yang, "What a coincidence, Little Brother Ji Yang!"
Ji Yang strolled over to Huang Huai with the easy familiarity of an old friend, then followed Huang Huai's gaze. He happened to see Great River Sect's disciples collecting incense ash.
At the sight, Ji Yang curled his lip. "Great River Sect is pretty shrewd. That jar of incense ash is about as much as a household of several people would accumulate in a year. The Incense and Fire Prayer Power it contains is enough to refine one